An island of plastic and habits that don't go back... or do they?

The plastic island

For many years there has been talk of the famous plastic island which is nothing more and nothing less than a large concentration of plastics in the Pacific Ocean with an area equivalent to the American State of Texas and three times the area of France. To give us an order of quantity, it is about 80,000 tonnes, the equivalent of about 290 Airbus A380s. However, this is not the only concentration of plastic in the oceans. There are four other, smaller areas.

According to a study published in 2017, plastic waste currently comes mainly from 10 rivers: eight in Asia and two in Africa. However, the other regions of the planet can by no means remain quiet and inactive, because even if today their contribution is not so significant, a few years ago they certainly contributed a lot. Thus, there is an accumulated stock in the ocean from the other regions, especially Europe.

Impact

Beyond the environmental impact, marine litter impacts on something that is not yet widely recognised by the public. I am referring to microplastics, which are particles less than five millimetres in size that deteriorate from larger pieces of plastic lost in the oceans, entering the human food chain.

Aware of the need to take an urgent position, also contributing to SDG 14 - to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development - demonstrating commendable political will, Europe and the various Member States have once again taken the lead and recently unleashed a series of initiatives.

Last year and a half

Early this year, the European Commission defined the goals of the European Circular Economy Package, which will greatly contribute so that an increasing number of plastic packaging waste is recovered through recycling and not only wealth and employment are created but also the associated environmental impacts are minimized. At the same time, it is signalled that, even before the summer, proposals to ban certain disposable plastic utensils closely associated with the scourge of marine litter will be put forward based on facts and not beliefs or myths. And this happened too!

Some multinational and national companies (distribution, FMCG, beverages, restaurants, hotels) have announced that, as of the second half of last year and more intensely as of the beginning of this year, they would eliminate certain disposable plastic utensils and/or minimise the use of certain plastic packaging, or even act on a broader level with other objects, such as coffee cups.

The Portuguese Parliament has started to discuss the possibility of implementing a mandatory deposit system for lost tare beverage packaging which, despite the significant investment associated, will make it possible to achieve extremely significant recycling rates, as already happens in several central and northern European countries. There are municipalities that intend to change their municipal regulations to ban some disposable utensils, such as plastic cups; retail chains that want to promote pilot projects to reward consumers for delivering their waste; and beverage companies that intend to promote the use of reusable cups.

In this context, the decisions taken in the second fortnight of October show that these are not intentions, but achievements.

2nd fortnight of October 2018

The European Parliament approved by a large majority, among other measures, the ban of the sale of some single-use plastic products as of 2021, as well as defined as an objective a recycling rate for disposable plastic bottles of at least 90% by 2025. In Portugal, a bill was approved defining that a deposit system for plastic, glass and metal drinks containers is mandatory from 1 January 2022. The Government also decided to ban plastic bottles, bags and crockery in public administration.

A wave that goes on (going back)

This is a wave that will continue and get bigger and bigger. And because this is marine debris, the image, in my opinion, is the right one. A wave that will lead to nothing being the same as before. But is this really the case?

Are we not facing, as the song says, "the time goes back" in many of the habits and practices of the past? To the time of the bottle in drinks, of the shopping trolley with the placement of products without plastic bags, with the use of reusable packaging, among many other examples.

New ("old") times will bring great challenges for companies, calling once again on their creativity and innovation to face a new reality and a growing demand and scrutiny by European consumers. And the wish is that this wave will spread to other geographies so that we may have a more sustainable and balanced world.